The piece begins not in New York but three thousand miles west in Seattle with Janette Sadik-Khan explaining how she triumphed over auto interests by taking back precious road space and returning it to the people in the form of plazas and bike lanes.

How can we redirect our city building into a form that can handle the expected doubling of urban residents over the next 40 years? Great ideas can be found in this collection of soundbites from the film, "The Human Scale."

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has announced that Polly Trottenberg, the third-ranking official at the US Department of Transportation, will become the next Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. She's got big shoes to fill.

The mystery of what outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg and his top lieutenants will do for their next act has been solved. Many will continue to work together at a new consultancy exporting the ideas they've championed in New York to other cities.

This week, vacancies opened at the top of transportation departments in America's second and third largest cities. Meanwhile, one of the most influential and well respected transportation leaders may soon be out of a job. Let the courtship begin!

Over the past 12 years, New York has been transformed. For the better in some instances (bike lanes, pedestrian plazas), and perhaps not in others (unaffordability). Michael Kimmelman suggests how to build on the successes and correct the problems.

Janette Sadik-Khan and Amanda Burden have been among the most visible proponents, and benefactors, of the progressive planning initiatives that've transformed New York City over the last decade. They'll take on the post-Bloomberg transition together.

After a decade of steady declines in traffic-related fatalities in New York City, amid a focused effort to improve traffic safety, Robert Kolker examines why such deaths spiked upward of 23 percent in the past year.

Despite years of consistent decline, and a variety of efforts aimed at improving safety, traffic fatalities spiked by 23 percent last year in New York City. Matt Flegenheimer examines what may be causing the increase.

In an effort to make the city's streets safer for the legions of distracted pedestrians gazing downwards at guidebooks and phone screens, NYC is taking a page from its compatriots in London and installing exhortations to “LOOK!” in its crosswalks.

Last week's record setting premiere of the Avengers movie franchise inspired the launch of a planning and design themed legion of superheroes on Twitter. Sommer Mathis interviews the urbanist behind the mask.

The "secret boulevard," running between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan through atrias, arcades, and public plazas from 51st Street to 57th Street, is getting attention and an upgrade from the Department of Transportation, reports Matt Chaban.

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